The present invention relates to a press-through pack, a sealing sheet for a press-through pack and a taking-out method of tablet. Specifically, it relates to a press-through pack wherein a solid material such as a tablet or the like contained therein can be taken out easily one by one and also plural solid materials or all solid materials are taken out at one time if desired, a sealing sheet appropriate for producing such a press-through pack, and a taking-out method of tablets wherein all dividable tablets contained in the press-through pack can be divided at one time and all of the divided tablets in each storage recess of an accommodation body can be obtained at one time.
A press-through pack (generally called as PTP package) can contain a solid material one by one in each storage recess (or pocket) tightly and hygienically sealed and a solid material contained in the storage recess can be easily obtained one by one. Therefore, such a press-through pack has been widely used for individually packing medicines such as a tablet and a capsule, and confections such as a candy.
FIG. 7 shows a sectional view of one embodiment of such a press-through pack. The press-through pack 101 is provided with an accommodation body 102 and a sealing sheet 105 and is constructed such that an adhesive layer 104 of the sealing sheet 105 is bonded to sheet like portions 102b, . . . 102b of the accommodation body 102.
The accommodation body 102 is made of synthetic resin such as polyvinyl chloride, polypropylene and cyclic polyolefin and plural storage recess 102a, . . . 102a generally formed according to the shape of solid materials T, . . . T to be contained are connected to the sheet like portions 102b, . . . 102b. 
The sealing sheet 105 has a substrate 103 made of aluminum foil or the like and an adhesive layer 104 provided on one surface of the substrate 103.
According to the press-through pack 101, the adhesive layer 104 of the sealing sheet 105 and the sheet like portions 102b, . . . 102b of the accommodation body 102 are bonded while containing the solid materials T, . . . T in the plural storage recesses 102a, . . . 102a of the accommodation body 102 respectively, and the accommodation body 102 is tightly sealed by the sealing sheet 105.
According to such a press-through pack 101, when each projecting portion 102c, . . . 102c as outer surface of each storage recess 102a, . . . 102a is pressed, areas R1, . . . R1 of the sealing sheet 105 tightly sealing each storage recess 102a, . . . 102a are ruptured by solid materials T, . . . T contained in each of the storage recesses 102a, . . . 102a, thereby the solid materials T, . . . T can be obtained out of the press-through pack 101 one by one.
On the other hand, the dosage amount of medicine is required to be varied depending on the weight, age and soon of the patient to be dosed. Therefore, many tablets are provided with a dividing line along which the tablets are easily divided by fingers or tools.
However, the prior press-through pack 101 is designed such that the solid materials T, . . . T each contained in the recesses 102a, . . . 102a are obtained one by one. Therefore, when medicine containing plural different components is dividedly packed for one dosage to a patient at a hospital, a clinic or a pharmacy, a pharmacist takes the solid materials T, . . . T out of the press-through pack 101 one by one and the removed solid materials T, . . . T are dividedly packed for one dosage by means of a dividedly packing machine. It takes trouble and time for taking the solid materials T, . . . T out of the press-through pack 101 one by one. It is requested by a pharmacist and an administrator at a medical site to provide a press-through pack by which the solid materials T, . . . T can be obtained one by one and also easily all the solid materials T, . . . T can be obtained at one time.
Aluminum foil is widely used as the substrate 103 of the sealing seat 105 because it is highly dampproof, the solid materials T can be easily obtained, and it is posh. However, the aluminum substrate 103 and the accommodation body 102 aren""t separately disposed after all the solid materials T, . . . T are taken out of the press-through pack 101 so that the treatment of disposed materials is difficult and they aren""t recycled.
The present invention is proposed to meet the above-mentioned request.
Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide a press-through pack by which the solid materials stored therein can easily be obtained one by one, plural solid materials or all of the solid materials can be obtained at one time and which can be disposed after separating a sealing sheet and an accommodation body. And it is also an object of the invention to provide a sealing sheet which can easily make such a press-through pack.
Many dividable tablets are obtained from a press-through pack 101 one by one and each one is manually divided. Such a work takes a lot of troubles and long time although they have dividing lines so as to be easily divided by a punch as mentioned above. It is expected by pharmacists for a long time to propose a taking-out method of tablets wherein a large amount of tablets are divided at one time and the divided tablets are easily gathered at one time in order to improve efficiency of dispensation work.
A further object of the present invention for satisfying the pharmacist""s request is to provide a taking-out method wherein dividable tablets contained in a press-through pack are taken out one by one, also a lot of the dividable tablets are divided at one time, and the divided tablets are gathered at one time.
According to the claim 1 of the present invention, a press-through pack comprised of an accommodation body having plural storage recesses provided with sheet like portions therebetween, and a sealing sheet having a substrate on which one surface side an adhesive layer is formed, said accomodation body being sealed tightly by said sealing sheet in a manner that said adhesive layer and said sheet like portions are bonded to each other with a solid material contained in each of said plural storage recesses wherein, said sealing sheet is made of such material that the part of said sealing sheet responding to said recess, a part in which a solid material is contained, is partly ruptured without causing floating and peeling of adhesion portion between said adhesive layer of said sealing sheet and said sheet like portion of said accommodation body when pushing the projecting portion of the outer side of said recess with fingers, whereby said solid material contained in said recess is taken out and said sealing sheet is further bonded to said sheet like portions of said accommodation body in a manner that said sealing sheet is easily peeled off from said accommodation body.
Here xe2x80x9cthe sealing sheet is further bonded to the sheet like portions of the accommodation body in a manner that the sealing sheet is easily peeled off from the accommodation bodyxe2x80x9d means the sealing sheet is bonded to the sheet like portion of the accommodation body so that the sealing sheet is exfoliated from the sheet like portion of the accommodation body easily and without being ruptured when a part of the sealing sheet of the press-through pack is peeled off.
The material of the accommodation body or the substrate of the sealing sheet isn""t limited if it can be used for a press-through pack for packing pharmaceuticals, drugs for animals and plants, confections, health foods, fishing baits, toys and so on.
The press-through pack of the claim 2 of the present invention is characterized in that the solid material is a dividable tablet.
More than one dividable tablet may be contained in any of the storage recesses of the accommodation body of the press-through pack. The dividable tablet may be contained in the storage recess in such a manner the surface having a dividing line faces the accommodation body or the surface opposite to the one having a dividing line faces the accommodation body. Further, those tablets may be mixed at random.
xe2x80x9cA dividable tabletxe2x80x9d preferably has a dividing line at the center of the surface thereof and can be divided along the dividing line when pressure is applied on the surface or the back of the tablet so that the force is concentrated on the dividing line. More specifically, it is preferable to use a dividable tablet which has a dividing line at its center of the surface and at least one of the surface having a dividing line or its opposite surface may be formed concave or convex.
Such a dividable tablet may be a naked tablet (uncoated tablet) or a coated tablet which is appropriately coated with coating material on the naked tablet.
The diameter of a dividable tablet is preferably from 3 mm to 30 mm and more preferably from 5 mm to 12 mm.
The tabletting pressure for manufacturing a dividable tablet is preferably not more than 50N of pressure in the thickness direction when the tablet is divided and more preferably from 15N to 40N.
According to the press-through pack of the claim 3 of the present invention, the bonding strength of the sealing sheet and the sheet like portion of the accommodation body in the press-through pack of the claim 1 or 2 is not less than 0.9N/15 mm width and not more than 3.1N/15 mm width in T peeling test executed at a peeling speed of 200 mm/min.
The unit xe2x80x9cN/15 mm widthxe2x80x9d used in the specification means peeling strength when T peeling test is executed wherein the accommodation body and the sealing sheet are bonded, thereafter the bonded portion thereof is cut into 15 mm width and the cut piece is used as a test sample.
The term xe2x80x9cT peeling testxe2x80x9d means a test according to JIS (Japanese Industrial Standards) K6845.
In the above-mentioned range, peeling or floating between the accommodation body and the sealing sheet isn""t caused at the bonded portion of the sheet like portion of the accommodation body and the adhesive layer of the sealing sheet other than the storage recesses (so called a pocket) from where solid materials are taken by breaking the sealing sheet tightly sealing the storage recesses by pushing the projecting portions as outer surface of the storage recesses containing the solid materials into the sheet direction with fingers, and the sealing sheet is bonded to the sheet like portion of the accommodation body so as to be easily peeled from the accommodation body without the sealing sheet ruptured.
Contrary under the above-mentioned range, the sealing sheet can be peeled off from the accommodation body without being broken. However, peeling or floating is caused at the bonded portion of the sheet like portion of the accommodation body and the adhesive layer of the sealing sheet other than the storage recesses from where solid materials are taken by breaking the sealing sheet tightly sealing the storage recesses by pushing the projecting portions as outer surface of the storage recesses containing the solid materials into the sheet direction with fingers.
Above the above-mentioned range, peeling or floating isn""t caused at the bonded portion of the sheet like portion of the accommodation body and the adhesive layer of the sealing sheet other than the storage recesses from where solid materials are taken by breaking the sealing sheet tightly sealing the storage recesses by pushing with fingers. However, it is difficult to peel off or exfoliate the sealing sheet from the accommodation body. When the sealing sheet is forcedly peeled off, a part of the sealing sheet is ruptured.
The bonding strength of the bonded part between the sealing sheet and the sheet like portion of the accommodation body is preferably from 1.3N/15 mm width to 2.7N/15 mm width when T peeling test is carried out at a peeling speed of 200 mm/min.
According to the press-through pack of the claim 4 of the present invention, the bonding strength of the sealing sheet and the sheet like portion of the accommodation body in the press-through pack of the claim 1 or 2 is not less than 4.2N/15 mm width and not more than 7.0N/15 mm width in T peeling test executed at a peeling speed of 100 mm/min.
In the above-mentioned range, peeling or floating isn""t caused at the bonded portion of the sheet like portion of the accommodation body and the adhesive layer of the sealing sheet other than the storage recesses (so called a pocket) from where solid materials are taken by breaking the sealing sheet tightly sealing the storage recesses by pushing projecting portions as outer surface of the storage recesses containing solid materials into the sheet direction with fingers, and the sealing sheet is bonded to the sheet like portion of the accommodation body, so as to be easily exfoliated from the accommodation body without the sealing sheet ruptured.
Contrary under the above-mentioned range, the sealing sheet can be peeled off from the accommodation body without being broken. However, peeling or floating is caused at the bonded portion of the sheet like portion of the accommodation body and the adhesive layer of the sealing sheet other than the storage recesses from where solid materials are taken by breaking the sealing sheet tightly sealing the storage recesses by pushing the projecting portions as outer surface of the storage recesses containing the solid materials into the sheet direction with fingers.
Above the above-mentioned range, peeling or floating isn""t caused at the bonded portion of the sheet like portion of the accommodation body and the adhesive layer of the sealing sheet other than the storage recesses from where solid materials are taken by breaking the sealing sheet tightly sealing the storage recesses by pushing with fingers. However, it is difficult to peel off or exfoliate the sealing sheet form the accommodation body. When the sealing sheet is forcedly peeled off, a part of the sealing sheet is ruptured.
The bonding strength of the bonded part between the sealing sheet and the sheet like portion of the accommodation body is preferably from 4.8N/15 mm width to 6.5N/15 mm width in T peeling test executed at a peeling speed of 100 mm/min.
According to the press-through pack of the present invention, an adhesion lowering component may be mixed for an adhesive component of the adhesive forming the adhesive layer of the sealing sheet.
The xe2x80x9cadhesive componentxe2x80x9d means an adhesive ordinarily used for heat sealing or cold sealing.
The xe2x80x9cadhesion lowering componentxe2x80x9d means a component for weakening the bonding strength of an adhesive component such as an adhesive with lower bonding strength or a component ordinarily used for a molding lubricant or a filler. A resin used for a molding lubricant is for example a silicone resin or fluorocarbon polymer. When the accommodation body is made of polyvinyl chloride, acrylic resin can be used as an adhesion lowering component.
As a filler, pulverized powder such as silicon oxide, magnesium silicate, titanium oxide, zinc white, calcium carbonate, almina, and talk can be used.
According to the press-through pack of the present invention, the bonding strength is adjusted by mixing an appropriate amount of bonding strength lowering component in an adhesive component so that peeling or floating isn""t caused at the bonded portion of the sheet like portion of the accommodation body and the adhesive layer of the sealing sheet other than the storage recesses (so called a pocket) from where the solid materials are taken by breaking a part of the sealing sheet tightly sealing the storage recesses by pushing the projecting portions as outer surface of the storage recesses containing the solid materials into the sheet direction with fingers, and the sealing sheet is bonded to the sheet like portion of the accommodation body so as to be easily exfoliated from the accommodation body without the sealing sheet ruptured.
According to the press-through pack of the present invention, the adhesive layer of the sealing sheet may be coated on one surface of the sealing sheet of the press-through pack by a partial coating method.
As the xe2x80x9cpartial coating methodxe2x80x9d, various methods may be conceived, and an adhesive may be coated on the surface facing the accommodation body of the sealing sheet like cross lines or lines or both cross lines and lines only if the solid materials contained in the storage recesses can be completely sealed.
According to such a press-through pack of the present invention, the bonding strength is adjusted by applying the adhesive partially so that peeling or floating isn""t caused between the accommodation body and the sealing sheet other than the so-called pocket from where solid materials are taken by breaking a part of the sealing sheet tightly sealing the storage recesses by pushing the projecting portions as outer surface of the storage recesses containing the solid materials into the sheet direction with fingers, and the sealing sheet is bonded to the sheet like portion of the accommodation body so as to be easily peeled from the accommodation body without the sealing sheet ruptured.
According to the sealing sheet for a press-through pack of the present invention, solid materials contained in a press-through pack can be taken out one by one and also plural solid materials are all the solid materials are taken out at one time if desired.
The sealing sheet for a press-through pack of the present invention is provided with a substrate and an adhesive layer on one surface of the substrate, said adhesive layer being bonded to a sheet like portion of an accommodation body having plural storage recesses with sheet like portions therebetween, and said sealing sheet tightly sealing the accommodation body wherein, said sealing sheet is made of such material that the part of said sealing sheet responding to said recess, a part in which a solid material is contained, is partly ruptured without causing floating and peeling of adhesion portion between said adhesive layer of the sealing sheet and said sheet like portion of the accommodation body when pushing the projecting portion of the outer side of said recess with fingers, whereby said solid material contained in said recess is taken out and said sealing sheet is further bonded to said sheet like portions of said accommodation body in a manner that said sealing sheet is easily peeled off from said accommodation body by fingers.
According to the sealing sheet for the press-through pack according to the present invention, the bonding strength of the sealing sheet for the press-through pack and the sheet like portion of the accommodation body is not less than 0.9N/15 mm width and not more than 3.1N/15 width in T peeling test executed at a peeling speed of 200 mm/min.
More preferably, the bonding strength of the sealing sheet and the sheet like portion of the accommodation body is not less than 1.3N/15 mm width and not more than 2.7N/15 mm width in T peeling test executed at a peeling speed of 200 mm/min.
According to the sealing sheet for the press-through pack of the present invention, the bonding strength of the sealing sheet for the press-through pack and the sheet like portion of the accommodation body is not less than 4.2N/15 mm width and not more than 7.0N/15 mm width in T peeling text executed at a peeling speed of 100 mm/min.
More preferably, the bonding strength of the sealing sheet and the sheet like portion of the accommodation body is not less than 4.8N/15 mm width and not more than 6.5N/15 mm width when T peeling test is executed at a peeling speed of 100 mm/min.
The taking-out method of tablets of the present invention is characterized in that all dividable tablets contained in the press-through pack are divided at one time and the divided tablets are easily obtained at one time. According to such a method, the press-through pack is placed on a flat plate and all dividable tablets contained in each storage recess of the accommodation body of the press-through pack are divided by applying an equal force from upward of the press-through pack placed on the flat plate by means of a flat plate, and the sealing sheet is peeled off the accommodation body and all the divided tablets contained in each storage recess of the accommodation body are obtained at once.